EP. 278 Nat Bullard on Decarbonisation in the Age of AI

5 snips

Feb 24, 2026

Nat Bullard, co-founder of Halcyon and former BloombergNEF content lead, brings data-led clarity to energy and markets. He covers Halcyon’s AI for grid data, the mixed signals in global decarbonisation, cooling demand as a major electrification driver, China’s rise as an electrostate and manufacturing powerhouse, and looming grid and interconnection constraints from booming data centre and AI loads.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

AI Indexing Turns Regulatory Mess Into Actionable Signals

Halcyon built an AI platform that ingests 5.6 million unstructured US energy documents since 2020 to make regulatory and procurement data searchable.
They index state commissions, RTOs and federal filings, then surface specific workflows like tree‑trimming RFPs or gas plant cost overruns.

INSIGHT

Transition Is Contradictory More Of Everything Not Simple Replacement

Global deployment rose (record solar and batteries) even as real‑terms clean investment was flat and fossil use also grew.
Nat frames it as a 'doing more of everything' era where aggregation hides market nuance across regions.

INSIGHT

Cooling Demand Rivaling AI As A Major Load Driver

Cooling demand in hot, populous developing countries is a massive electrification driver and can reinforce emissions without clean power.
Nat notes cooling can be both input to and result of GDP growth and must pair with electricity decarbonization.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Nat Bullard, co-founder of Halcyon, an AI-enabled energy information platform, and one of the sector’s most influential data storytellers. He joins Hugo Batten, Aurora’s Managing Director APAC, and Oliver Kerr, Aurora’s Managing Director USA, to unpack the 2026 edition of his annual “Decarbonisation” presentation - a sweeping, data-led assessment of where the global energy transition is accelerating, stalling, and surprising us.

Nat brings two decades’ experience analysing energy, technology, markets and finance. Formerly Chief Content Officer at BloombergNEF and now also an advisor to Ember and Arcadia, he draws on deep market insight to separate structural trends from short-term noise. From record solar and battery deployment in the US, to flat real-terms clean investment globally, to China’s extraordinary scale in electrification and manufacturing, the conversation explores a world adding more of everything - fossil fuels and renewables alike - while grappling with grid constraints and rising electricity demand.

The discussion also examines cooling demand in developing economies, China’s emergence as a global electrostate, and the profound uncertainty surrounding AI-driven load growth and data centre interconnections in the US - where the bottleneck may be demand connection as much as generation capacity.

You will learn:

Why the energy transition appears contradictory - with record clean deployment alongside continued fossil growth.

How cooling demand in emerging economies could rival or exceed AI as a driver of electricity growth.

What China’s scale in electrification, batteries and EVs means for global supply chains and competitiveness.

Why grids and interconnection queues may prove the decisive constraint in the next phase of the transition.

Registration for the leading annual gathering of the European energy industry – the Aurora Spring Forum, taking place on 29th April 2026, in London is open - a one-day deep dive into the biggest strategic questions shaping Europe’s energy transition, plus top-tier networking and a live recording of Energy Unplugged.

Book now at https://auroraer.com/events/aurora-sp... and use code PODCAST20 for 20% off.